 "Donald Trump held his predecessor, Joe Biden, several other Democrats, the helicopter’s pilot, and air traffic control accountable for the incident. AP")
The United States witnessed its most deadly aviation disaster in over 20 years on Wednesday, which resulted in the deaths of 67 people.
However, US President Donald Trump was quick to criticise diversity hiring, claiming - without presenting evidence - that reduced standards were responsible for the crash.
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His remarks came after a mid-air collision between an American Airlines passenger jet and a US Army Black Hawk helicopter.
He held his predecessor, Joe Biden, several other Democrats, the helicopter’s pilot, and air traffic control accountable for the incident.
What is DEI? Why is Trump against it?
Since taking office on January 20, Trump has signed a series of executive orders aimed at dismantling diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives across both the federal government and the private sector.
Trump and his allies have also, without presenting evidence, blamed diversity efforts for the handling of recent deadly wildfires in California. Civil rights advocates have dismissed these claims, calling them dangerous.
DEI programmes are part of workplace policies designed to ensure fairer representation for historically marginalised groups, including African Americans, LGBTQ+ individuals, women, disabled people, and other ethnic minorities in the United States.
Notably, these efforts seek to eliminate systemic barriers affecting groups that have long faced racism, sexism, and xenophobia. DEI practices often include training to combat discrimination, addressing pay disparities based on gender or race, and expanding recruitment opportunities for underrepresented communities.
Trump and his supporters argue that DEI policies unfairly disadvantage other Americans, particularly white people and men while undermining merit-based hiring and promotion.
“My administration has taken action to abolish all discriminatory diversity, equity, and inclusion nonsense – and these are policies that were absolute nonsense – throughout the government and the private sector,” Trump told the World Economic Forum after beginning his second term.
The US President has also signed an order to cut funding for schools that promote critical race theory, an academic framework primarily taught in law schools. This theory is based on the idea that racial bias - whether intentional or not - is embedded within US laws and institutions.
Why Trump blamed DEI hiring for the Washington air crash
Without presenting any evidence, Trump has attributed the blame for the deadly air collision to policies implemented by previous Democratic administrations.
On Thursday, Trump pointed fingers at multiple parties, including the helicopter’s pilot, air traffic control, his predecessor Joe Biden, and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, whom he called a “disaster.”
Trump accused Buttigieg of running the Department of Transportation “into the ground with his diversity.”
In response, Buttigieg called Trump “despicable.”
When asked repeatedly why he was linking federal diversity and inclusion policies to the crash, Trump claimed that previous leadership had determined the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) workforce was “too white.”
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He said, “We must have only the highest standards for those who work in our aviation system… I changed the Obama standards from very mediocre at best to extraordinary.”
“You remember that. Only the highest aptitude. They have to be the highest intellect and psychologically superior people were allowed to qualify for air traffic controllers. That was not so prior to getting there.”
“These are various, very powerful tests that we put to use. And they were terminated by Biden. And Biden went by a standard that seeks the exact opposite. So we don’t know. But we do know that you had two planes at the same level… But certainly for an air traffic controller, we want the brightest, the smartest, the sharpest. We want somebody that’s psychologically superior. And that’s what we’re going to have.”
Trump further claimed that the FAA’s diversity and inclusion hiring guidelines gave preference to individuals with disabilities, including “hearing, vision, missing extremities, partial paralysis, complete paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability, psychiatric disability, and dwarfism.”
However, it remains unclear how these diversity efforts may have affected air traffic controllers. The FAA employs more than 35,000 people, with only a fraction serving in that role.
Last year, the FAA responded to criticisms of its hiring practices by stating that all new employees must meet “rigorous qualifications” that “vary by position.”
Trump has now appointed Chris Rocheleau, a US Air Force veteran with over 20 years of experience at the FAA, as the agency’s acting head.
Washington DC plane crash: What happened?
The collision involved a regional jet departing from Wichita, Kansas, and a military helicopter carrying three soldiers on a training exercise, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The skies were clear at the time.
A few minutes before the jet was scheduled to land, air traffic controllers asked American Airlines Flight 5342 if it could use a shorter runway, to which the pilots agreed. Controllers then cleared the jet to land, and flight tracking data showed the aircraft adjusting its approach accordingly.
Less than 30 seconds before the crash, an air traffic controller asked the helicopter’s crew if they had visual contact with the plane. Moments later, the controller made another radio call, seemingly instructing the helicopter to hold position and wait for the Bombardier CRJ-701 twin-engine jet to pass. There was no response, and the aircraft collided seconds later.
Fact Check: Did diversity hiring policies lead to Washington plane crash?
Trump has provided no evidence linking the plane crash to diversity hiring policies at the Federal Aviation Administration.
Meanwhile, data from the US Census Bureau and the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS), cited by Axios, shows that air traffic controllers and airfield operations specialists are predominantly male and white.
According to the data, 78% are men and 22% are women, while 71% identify as non-Hispanic white. The figures cover professionals working in air transportation or services incidental to transportation.
The cause of the crash has not yet been determined, and there is no evidence that FAA hiring policies have impacted aviation safety.
Deadliest plane crash since November 2001 in the US
Wednesday’s crash was the deadliest aviation disaster in the United States since November 12, 2001, when an American Airlines flight crashed into a residential area of Belle Harbor, New York, shortly after takeoff from Kennedy Airport, killing all 260 people on board.
The last major fatal crash involving a US commercial airline occurred in 2009 near Buffalo, New York. That accident involved a Bombardier DHC-8 propeller plane, killing everyone on board along with one person on the ground, bringing the total death toll to 50.
With inputs from agencies